4 comments:

Just needed to vent Josh,Was listening to KLIV earlier and they were comparing our current tech boom to the Dot-Com boom. Some idiot went on to say the current upswing was more "regional" in feel than the boom of the 1990's; "if you're in San Francisco, SOMA you really get a sense for the current boom, but if you're in downtown San Jose you don't." Am I allowed to use profanity on your blog Josh? This "SF" guy should really visit the SPS Market or even tonight's Sub Zero to get a TRUE feel of the current tech boom. Thanks for listening Josh.

That guy has no idea what he's talking about. Foot traffic in Downtown San Jose has pretty much doubled over the last 5 years. Also much of the tech boom in the South Bay is happening across massive multi-mullion square feet campuses, so you won't see the same type of activity there as the streets of SF. However, the recent uptick in traffic is strong evidence of the tech boom in the South Bay =).

I'm a big fan of San Jose in general, and downtown in particular. But there is definitely some truth what the person on KLIV was saying. Downtown SJ has definitely experienced a nice uptick in economic activity in the past few years, and some real estate activity is following, but it's mostly been on the residential, retail and most recently the hotel side. There hasn't been any new office construction of note in downtown SJ in years, and the office vacancy rate is still something like 20% the last I heard. One of SJ's key challenges going forward will be to attract more job growth downtown... but I think we're on the right track, as I think more residents, more retail, and more street life will eventually convince companies that it's smart to move downtown.

I agree with the klick guy to a large extent an blowing off that observation doesn't do anything to serve San Jose. We lag behind in many aspects and would benefit more from realistic, constructive conversations about how to improve and make real strides.